Matthew Slater, co-author of the Credit Commons white paper, produces a biannual (usually!) roundup of money news he finds interesting. Here are previous roundups and below is the latest. Ideas around money can get very complex very quickly, so do feel free to put queries to Matthew in the comments section below.
Denizens of the Next World Order!
I’m sending this hot on the heels of the last (in Feb) because so much is happening, because I want to invite you to the gathering I’m designing, and because my colleague Jem Bendell’s book is out, about global societal collapse and response. Read a free chapter and/or pre-order it now!
My gathering is about the kinds of credit systems we can build ourselves, including especially multilateral offset clearing – that means cancelling out invoices between members of a group of producers. These kinds of groups can trade a lot more with a lot less money if they can get organised. If that’s your field, read more…
My friends at Mutual Credit Services will be there and are looking for people. They’ve now got about 4 pilot projects occupying them.
I forgot to mention last time that Colinossus Drumm, who’s PhD thesis I recorded, has started his own (online) university from his bedroom. I would totally hang out there if I had more time for learning. Find out more on his Patreon page.
And so to the rest of the world news, the ongoing Bank Run, and the decline of the dollar.
Lets kick off with Yanis Varoufakis. He says that unlike 2008, banks are not collapsing because of rogue risk taking – the risk has been normalised. Elsewhere I read that the crises could be used to usher in the Central Bank Digital Currencies, which would put monetary policy back in the hands of the state, which Varoufakis sees as a good thing. Here’s a fun twitter thread imagining a conversation between the fed and a failing bank. Savvy Jim Rickards weighs in with Why the Panic is just beginning.
De-dollarisation floodgates are open white-knuckle stories like these: Russian sanction, Saudi betrayal, Lula in Brazil, the sudden rise of the rupee. Saudi Arabia has actually agreed to accept Kenyan shillings as payment for oil shipments to Kenya. What next? Will the BRICS make a gold-linked currency? Or will someone try organise a new Bretton Woods? And even Indonesia is piling on. Here’s Pepe Escobar’s take on the Russia/Chinese meeting. Michael Hudson is producing a series of long-form conversations so he can go into depth on such matters:
1 Decline of US hegemony and multipolarity
2 What causes inflation?
3 The dollar’s contradictions and de-dollarization
And to tie those threads together I enjoyed this insightful accessible chat on the run on the dollar that is now beginning, from an unusual source, freelance journalist Gonzalo Lira. Some would say that even Europe is now turning away from USA.
In other blogs, the recent bank failures show that the Federal Reserve is not fit for purpose. JP Konig reflects on why some weak countries have strong currencies. Steve Keen shows how the dominant model of money creation cited in the 2022 nobel winning paper, not only contradicts the Bank of England, but also violates double entry accounting. Steve Keen is running a paid course for rebel economists.
I can’t remember if I posted it at the time, and I’ve heard nothing about it since, but don’t forget the financial elites have a plan to monetise nature, and have created a new asset class to do so. If they can create new assets by monetising the commons perhaps that will keep the debt loop going?
And for a final feelgood bump do watch this latest promo from Grassroots Economics, which gives you a sense of the impact they are having by helping Kenya’s poorest to issue vouchers for their goods and services. The end of capitalism is near, the great powers are shifting, there will be great losses and small gains concentrated in few hands. It could hardly happen at a worse time. I counsel the building of wealth in relationships, and equipping oneself with low-tech expertise and land. At least the food we create with our own hands, is food we have not taken out of the mouths of others in a zero-sum race to the bottom!
Matthew
